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Alexis Smith

Margaret Alexis Fitzsimmons Smith, actor (born 8 June 1921 in Penticton, BC; died 9 June 1993 in Los Angeles, California). Alexis Smith was a movie star during Hollywood’s golden age, sharing the screen with some of the era’s most celebrated performers, such as Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, William Holden and Cary Grant. She took a hiatus from Hollywood for a decade before winning a Tony Award in 1971 for her performance in Stephen Sondheim’s hit Broadway musical, Follies. Smith appeared in such television series as The Love Boat, Dallas and Cheers, and such films as The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944), Rhapsody in Blue (1945), the Canadian tax shelter thriller The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976), and Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence (1993).

Early Years and Education

Alexis Smith moved with her family to
Los Angeles when she was a year old. As
a child, she took ballet lessons and became a trained dancer. At age 10 she won
a dance school championship, and at 13 she made her professional dancing debut.
She also began acting at age 10, performing in summer stock theatre in her
early teens and in school productions while attending Hollywood High School. She
danced in a production of Carmen at
the Hollywood Bowl and won a statewide acting contest.

After graduating from high school in
1938, Smith enrolled in the theatrical training program at Los Angeles City
College, where she studied under influential acting coach Jerry Blunt and
graduated with a degree in drama. A talent scout for Warner Bros. saw Smith in one
of the school’s theatrical productions and signed her to a long-term contract
in 1940.

Film Career

Smith made several minor, uncredited
screen appearances before landing a leading role opposite Errol Flynn in Dive Bomber (1941). Over a period of
almost two decades, Smith starred in more than 30 romantic dramas, adventure
films, comedies and Westerns. She was paired with such legendary leading men as
Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, William Holden, Cary Grant and Fredric March.
Among her most noteworthy films were Gentleman
Jim (1942), The Adventures of Mark
Twain (1944), Conflict (1945), Rhapsody
in Blue (1945), Night and Day (1946),
the remake of Of Human Bondage (1946), The Two Mrs.
Carrolls (1947) and The Turning
Point (1952).

Often cast as the alluring “other
woman” or the wife of the leading man, Smith often received good reviews for
her performances, even in films that were not critical or box office successes.
In an era of demanding Hollywood divas like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford,
Smith was popular with directors, fellow actors and film crews because of her
relaxed manner on set. British actor Dirk Bogarde described her as “Fun,
professional, loyal and courageous.”

Of this period in her career, Smith
later said, “In those days I was fresh out of school and delighted to be a
movie star… Besides, I was pretty much a utility girl at Warners. Anything Ann
Sheridan or Ida Lupino or Jane Wyman didn’t want to do, I sort of fell heir to.
You know, people frequently feel it was a shame Warner typecast me, but I don’t
believe that. I believe I typecast myself. I wasn’t creative. Certain creative
people — John Garfield, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland — didn’t allow Warners
to do that to them. So I don’t blame the studio at all.”

After Smith’s contract with Warner
Bros. expired, she made several films with Paramount Pictures in the 1950s.
In 1959, she returned to Warner
Bros. to star opposite Paul Newman in The
Young Philadelphians. During filming, she suffered severe injuries in a
horse-riding accident and decided to retire from the movie industry. By that
time she had become an American citizen and was married to actor Craig Stevens.

Later Career

During the 1960s, Smith appeared in a
handful of TV series and performed with Stevens in several theatrical
productions. In 1971, she made a stunning comeback in Stephen Sondheim’s hit
Broadway musical, Follies. Her
performance earned rave reviews, and in an issue that featured her picture on
the cover, Time magazinedeclared, “Alexis Smith is the living,
dancing refutation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s axiom that there are no second acts
in American lives. At 49 she is in
the best second act of her life.” Smith received a Tony Award and a New York
Critics Award for Follies. She
received another Tony nomination for her performance in the 1978 Broadway show Platinum.

Smith returned to film in 1975, starring
opposite Kirk Douglas in Once Is Not
Enough and co-starring with Martin Sheen and Jodie Foster in the Canadian tax
shelter thriller, The Little Girl Who
Lives Down the Lane (1976).She
toured American and Canadian cities as a nightclub entertainer and made guest
appearances on such television shows as Marcus
Welby, M.D. and The Love Boat. She
had a recurring role in the popular drama Dallas
and received an Emmy Award nomination for a guest appearance on the sitcom Cheers in 1990. Smith also appeared in
the action-comedy Tough Guys (1986) with
Douglas and Burt Lancaster. Her final film role was opposite Daniel Day-Lewis
and Michelle Pfeiffer in Martin Scorsese’s The
Age of Innocence (1993), which was released shortly after Smith’s death
from brain cancer.